Week 3 of CLE

I'm a week closer to marathon number three. I try to stay away from cliche phrases like that, since we are always getting closer to an event in the future rather than implying that it's possible to be further. Anywho, here is the week in running by numbers:

5 runs
27.87 miles
4:02:11 (h:m:s)
6.9 miles per hour (average)
2,637 calories burned

I fell thirteen-hundredths of a mile short of my plan (28). I blame it on the weather--not the cold, but the crappy rain-sleet-opening-of-the-angry-heavens on Wednesday night. I had a long day. Rob agreed to join me to run at 7:30PM when I was finally free for the evening and since didn't have a single chance to even think about checking the weather, I planned for us to run 6 miles. It was 46° but windy when we got started, so I threw on a vest over my short-sleeved shirt. As soon as we hit the pavement, the wind kicked up with easily 20 mile per hour gusts. A few minutes later, the sky pelted us with tiny, cold rain drops. Those rain drops quickly became semi-frozen. We wussed out just over 3 miles, but I was so very happy to be done. I tried to compensate for the short mileage through Sunday and fell just short.

Oh, and I completed Plyometrics!

As the photo demonstrates, I wasn't sure of myself upon the warm-up. I had watched Joe do it the night before (while I was curled in the fetal position on the couch) and was impressed by his soft landings and the sweat pouring from his head. I didn't think I'd make it through without quitting or throwing a hissy fit.

I did the entire 60ish minutes of jumping, squatting, lunging, and combining all three into moves only Tony Horton could conjure. I did need a short break on two moves. The first was Run Squat 180-Jumps, which is in the final sequence of moves. I skipped 2 of the jumps because I could feel my form falling apart and I didn't want to "dog it," as Tony describes sloppy execution of his moves. The other sequence that I cut short was in the bonus round (yes, I'm a baller and made it to the bonus round)--Pitch and Catch. I never have been a baseball or softball player, so that move was not in my repertoire of things that I can do without looking like a newborn giraffe falling out of the birth canal and then flailing its giant, awkward legs in an attempt to mobilize itself. I wasn't tired or dogging it, but completely incapable of watching the move and executing it simultaneously. When I thought I finally got the right-handed move right, it was time to switch to left-handed. Yeah, that was probably comical.

With that, week four has begun. Although I'm supposed to do Core Synergistics tonight, Joe and I instead plan to do Plyo together. I've added another race to my plan, which is the Toledo Road Runners 25K on February 17th. It was one of my training races for Glass City last year. I killed it in the first five miles at 8-minute pace, then I kinda fell apart. I finished just over 15 miles in 2:10. I was still new to running at the time, so I'm thinking that this time around I should be able to pace myself better and maybe even PR the course.

LAST but not and least important: I received my free Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon early-bird sign-up gift. I predicted when I registered for CLE that the gift would be something best stored in a trash can.

I was right.

I missed you, Tony Horton

I spent 59 minutes yesterday evening with Tony, Pam, Adam, and *shudder* Dreya.

I like straight lines.  You should see my closet at home.

Every Monday my Cleveland Marathon training plan includes Core Synergistics or Plyo care of Tony Horton, Beach Body, and P90X. Prior to last night, it had been almost exactly 2.5 years since my last bout with a P90X workout. Between July 2010 and yesterday, I had only exercised, excluding running, one time.  I remembered that I enjoyed Core Synergistics more than the other P90X workouts. Still, I was a little nervous to give it another go.

Two and a half years ago, I was using bands as opposed to weights. This time, I went with free weights at five pounds--Joe told me that he feels they make for better results than bands. My only other experience with free weights was the one time this past summer that I did a core workout from a DVD by this creepy dude named Gunnar. Gunnar's DVDs are like a Robert Palmer music video combined with porn, a ball, and weights. I gave up on Gunnar after one workout because I was afraid of dropping the weights on my face as I wobbled to remain upright on the ball.  My core is clearly weak.

Anywho, it was apparent from the warm-up in Core Synergistics yesterday that it was going to be a rough one. While stretching I couldn't do simple things that I once could do with ease, i.e., get my hands onto the floor while stretching. This made me sad.

Every kind of push-up made me want to cry. I used to be able to get down pretty low, and I'm talking in terms of real push-ups--none of that knees-on-the-floor crap.  Last night I was getting myself down maybe an inch before I could feel my chest ready to tear and my wrists beginning tremble. The worst were probably Sphinx push-ups.  I am pretty sure that I once thought those were fun. Last night, I think I did five before I wanted to cry. It, like the warm-up, made me sad.

Using weights was a blasty. In fact, they offered respite between push-up varieties. My favorite move was Lunge Kickback Curl Press, which is everything that is in the name. Five pounds in each hand, lunge, kickback, bring torso upright, curl, press, reverse, down, then repeat with the other leg forward in a lunge. I felt like a badass, although I probably looked pathetic. I think five pounds was the perfect weight, which created way more resistance than what I used to get with the bands. Lots of sweat was dripping onto the floor. It made me happy, although it was fleeting.

The end of Core Synergistics is pretty enjoyable for me, though I think the moves at the end suck for a lot of people: Reach High and Under Push-ups (the only push-ups that I enjoyed, although they, like the others, did make me want to cry), Steam Engine, and the *shudder* Dreya Roll. I was feeling good after those three, so I attempted to give the bonus round a try.

The bonus round starts with Plank to Chaturanga Iso, which is a lot like an ealier move (Plank to Chaturanga Run). The former sucks and the bonus round version might suck worse. Since I couldn't get through one Chaturanga, I just flopped onto the ground and fast-forwarded to the Half-Back. I did that because it's fun, then pushed out 15 Table Dip Leg Raises per leg. And then it was time for the cool down.

I made it through the hour and felt more accomplished than I ever remember feeling the first time through P90X. Or maybe it was more of a feeling of "Thank you, Jebus, for ending this torture." Not bad for my first attempt in years.

I'm thinking about adding a second day of P90X to my Cleveland Marathon training plan. I imagine that I'd add a second day of Core Synergistics, but I'm considering throwing in Ab Ribber X to one of my 3-miler days instead of an entire workout. Without yet trying Plyo, I imagine Ab Ribber X or more Core Synergistics will benefit me most. Not sure how much I'm looking forward to my first ever attempt at Plyo in a couple of weeks.

What do you do to supplement running?  More importantly: What's your favorite Tony Horton quote?